Ann Napolitano

31st annual Key West Literary Seminar

January 10–13, 2013andJanuary 17–20, 2013

Ann Napolitano is the author of A Good Hard Look, a novel that imagines the private life of Flannery O’Connor. In O’Connor, who was diagnosed with lupus at 26, and then wrote some of the most influential short stories of the twentieth century before dying at 39, Napolitano says she admired the example of “a well-lived life.”

“I have a great deal of respect for courage, and moral courage in particular,” writes Napolitano. “There are many good people in the world, but a much smaller number of them have the bravery to stand up and do the right thing when personal risk is involved. I also have the highest regard for effort. Those people who make the most of what they have and strive to squeeze every drop out of every day are always an inspiration.”

Napolitano is also the author of the novel Within Arm’s Reach. She received an MFA from New York University, and she teaches fiction writing for Brooklyn College’s MFA program, New York University’s School of Continuing and Professional Studies, and for Gotham Writers’ Workshop. She lives in New York City with her husband and two children.